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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Fun craft time with your toddler

The longer I'm a mom, the more I realize it's up to me to enrich my child's life. Yes, his daycare is wonderful - they sing, dance, play games, do arts & crafts and have a jolly good time, but I also feel like part of that is my responsibility as his mother (plus I want to do all that fun stuff with him too).

Initially I was very daunted by the idea of trying to organize activities for my son (he'll be 2.5 next month), that's when I had an "ah ha" moment. Toddlers have super short attention spans. I didn't need to plan activities that would last for hours - just a short 10-30 minutes. Once I had this realization, I started Googling and doing different crafting activities with my son - sometimes it's just coloring in a coloring book (but hey, we're doing it together) - other times I put a bit more effort into it and we "make" something.

To date we've made a telescope from a papertowel roll (which we covered in construction paper bits and painted) and this past weekend we made a paper bag puppet (who got his hair removed the moment we were done, lol).

Point is, don't be intimidated mommies! There are lots of great resources out there and these crafts don't take a lot of time (or money ... or if you're like me, creativity). The main things I learned are that (1) it doesn't have to be something super well thought out; (2) it doesn't have to be priceless work of art you'll want to frame and keep forever; (3) have fun with it - get involved with your toddler and (4) encourage their inner artist simply by presenting them with these opportunities to be creative.

Here are some great links of sites with craft ideas and a few inspirational pictures of my son's own handy work :)

About Me

My name is Jessica. I am a working professional, wife, mother and friend. To say that my life can be a little nuts from time to time would be an understatement, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I've been with my husband, Eric, since high school (so over 12 years now!). We had our son, Bryce, in 2011 - he's just over 2 and basically into anything & everything, but he is my world and I would do anything for him. In my (very limited) spare time, I try to hang out with my friends who I wouldn't trade for the world - they're a crazy bunch and all of them are at different stages in life (dating, engaged, newly married, pregnant with their first child, etc) so it's exciting for me to go through all of that with them (and offer advice when I can). Life isn't easy, but it's an adventure I wouldn't trade for anything. This blog doesn't have any clear direction - it's my thoughts out there for the world to see. So come on in and let's be friends!